Interview: We Are TukTuk

Thanks to TukTuk for doing a interview with us, As this is a brand which I am looking out for in the future and have also had one of the best fitting and quality in fabric shirts I have ever had ( Soft grey Chambray shirting fans) They take there inspiration from the tropical and sunny country that they are based in, With there bright colours and fabrics.


Here is what Mark has to say after we fired him over some questions...

1, How was the brand We Are TukTuk set up and what was your aim?

I had been working out in Sri Lanka for about a year, and was getting continually frustrated with not being able to buy any good clothing. I started getting some shirts and shorts made-up for myself at my local tailors and it all kind of took off from there really. I took some samples back to the UK around Xmas 2008 time, and showed them to a few shops around Manchester. The response was good, so when I got back after Xmas I decided to get stuck into setting up a label. We were officially founded at the beginning of 2009.

2, How did the brand name come about?

A tuktuk is the rickety three wheeler form of transport which is synonymous with most of Asia. In the early days of setting up the brand the majority of my time was spent in the back of one, mooching around from fabric market to fabric market - it seemed right to name the brand after one.
 
3. How do you find fabrics/patterns?
 

As well as fabric markets both in Sri Lanka and abroad, we also deal with some of the leading fabric mills across China & India. We source from all over.

4. I noticed from your blog that you take influences from the country you are in, Sri Lanka does this come out within your clothing/products?

Yes, definitely so. A lot of our clothing is bright and colourful, and Sri Lanka is certainly that. When the sun is shining 24/7 it’s hard to not be inspired by that and that certainly comes through in our clothing and accessories.  As someone said to me the other day, we are a “sunshine brand”.

However, we try to not be too over bearing with the colour and patterns. Our Holdall bags are a good example of that,  they have plain chambray and leather exteriors but then when you open them up you get a burst of colour and patterns; it’s a more subtle approach.

As well as the colours, the sunshine, the people, there are lots of other things to take inspiration from; day-to-day life is generally quite interesting out here.

 
5. What are your plans for the future and what can we expect?

We are launching a new website soon, which will have a fully functional ‘bespoke shirt’ section. To coincide with the launch, we are also starting shipping all on-line orders from our UK office to speed up order delivery times. Bespoke shirts and limited shirt runs will still be shipped from Sri Lanka as they are tailor made on order.

Product wise, we are currently working on a small A/W11 collection, which should be finished very soon.  And S/S12 initial ideas and fabric selections have just started which is always an exciting time.

Interview: A Modern Tradition

Tee shirt/Clothing company A Modern Tradition agreed to do this interview with us, Big thanks to Craig for taking the time to answer questions.

RB Could you give us a bit off an insite into the company and how the idea came about?

AMT  At the minute, i'd still say that the company is only still a hobby so to speak. We are a two man outfit. My personal influences are mainly from terrace culture and fashions.

The other lad involved is a skinhead, so we have some varied ideas to throw in the bag and his vast knowledge of music can be good inspiration for design ideas.

Ive wanted to put my designs on tees for some time now but until 80's Casuals came about i was always pretty naive about it being financially possible if im honest. That was a kind of

kick up the arse for me that working class lads could,and did go places in clothing. In the past ive put some of my designs on tees myself using various methods like a wooden homemade silk

screen,stencils and transfers that were worn by my myself and my mates.

What made you decide to go into the clothing industry?

Clothing is something that both of us involved in the project are passionate about. As anyone who is/has been heavily into football fashions will know, its all about attention to detail and quality.

I dont go to football very much these days, but im still heavily into looking stylish(and i still have a jacket obsession!) So this is the only industry for me. There is nothing more rewarding than

taking something from the drawing board to finally seeing it in the flesh........and then to top it off, to see someone wearing it!

RB Since there are other tee shirt brands out there that have the "casual" tag with them, How do you make your product stand out?

AMT  At this moment in time we are just doing our own thing. We dont consider ourselves as a competetor to any of the established tee labels. We have currently have a stock pile of ideas to take to the drawing board.

Some are very unique and others i suppose could be considered as Casual 'Cliches'. But we always add our won twist and try to be different where we can.

What happens from start to finish in the process off designing a new tee?

Some ideas will just pop in there and evolve!!! But in reailty, most ideas will be brainstormed from conversation, then to paper until we agree a final decision. Then the design process can begin.

Alot of the designs are drawn by hand and others using photography and graphics tools etc. Then, from there we will fire it over to our printer who will colour check it and print off some samples.

RB You plan on going into other areas off fashion or just concentrate on your tees?

AMT  At present, we are planning to focus on the t-shirts. We have had some quotes on other items including knitwear but we dont want to try and punch above our weight just yet. I think

they call it 'Gradual Progression'!!! But certainly yes, we do plan on designing and producing our own garments in the future.

 RB what factors come into choosing a manufacture an also about the quality off the fabric?

AMT We use super heavyweight ultra-cotton for all our tees.If a poor fabric is used then it basically jeopardises the whole process. We only use reputable brands who are tried and tested. I suppose its a case of 'you get what you pay for' and we want a quality finished product.

Check there website out: http://www.amoderntradition.co.uk/

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Modern-Tradition/164752766881658?ref=ts

Casual Connoisseur Interview

Thanks to the chaps over on Casual-Connoisseur for the interview, It's appreciated.

1. How did the idea come about for The Casual Connoisseur?

There's three of us involved now in the running of the business, though we use various companies to produce our product and often collaborate with other designers or companies to bring out a different range.
Well it was started as an idea muted a while ago. My brother and I have always been creative and have done a range of varying design work from websites, with people literally telling us we should 'put that on a t-shirt', it came from that, we feel there's is a market for what we do, we're not at all strictly aimed at the football casual style folk, whilst a selection of what we do caters for that and we are proud to do that, we have much wider appeal, people into music and movies are also into our brand. We are passionately into varying things, from art, film, music and style, can you be passionately into many things over different timescales? yes, casual connoisseurs.
As time has passed and the label has grown, we now feel there's a place for us to carry on with what we do and further our range, there's a market for us to offer decent, well crafted products at affordable prices. There's some great labels out there at the moment, making top quality stuff, we don't want to pretend to be like that, we are self sufficient and intend to offer a cool and quirky, and quality product we'd be happy to wear alongside those other expensive brands, we want to bridge that gap, with garments which don't cost hundreds of pounds to buy, but on the flip side are still very decent and people want to wear them and everything is always fairly limited and exclusive.

2. Where do you get your inspiration for your designs?

Allsorts of ideas and inspiration from the various cultures, we have a love of allsorts, from films and music, to art, the outdoors and real ale, general lifestyle kind of thing. Our aim is always where possible to be a bit quirky and different to the norm.
Some designs take months of planning and work, some happen overnight, sometimes those split second ideas turn out to be the best, whilst the one's you've really stressed over and are really proud of aren't half as well received as you thought, that's something every designer or label will tell you though.

3.How does the whole thing go from start to finish?

We brainstorm design ideas, many either get put in a queue to go into the design process or some we get started on right away. As mentioned certain designs are months in the making, taking a while to get completed from an idea through to a finished design on a tee, others can be thought of and designed and finished in a day or two it all depends on the ideas. We then either design them with the limitations/restrictions in place for the screenprinting process, or change our works to make them screenprint friendly - this can sometimes be a lengthy process depending on the actual design. We then have the tee sampled for approval or any relevant changes until we're happy then we go into screenprint process the timing can very depending on the volume and intricacy of the design.

With the other products we are doing, it's a case of tracking down someone who can do it, the Weir hats have been a great success for us, and we found the company who did that ourselves, without any prior knowledge of them, a bit of a gamble, but it paid off and they do/did a fantastic job.
We're currently getting other garments sampled and produced, but as I've said finding the right folk to do it has been the hardest part believe it or not, the funds are there, but sometimes the people are not, which is frustrating, very few people are willing to give you a foot up in this game, which we've learned. We could get things mass produced in Europe or South East Asia tomorrow but it's complicated and always a risk, plus we do intend to have everything produced at home where possible - and we're not just saying that to sound all trendy.

4. What do you look for when you design a tee?

Something different and imaginative each time, but we'll occasionally revisit and reproduce old stuff which always do well, certain designs outsell others totally, but sometimes the odd one or two which not everyone will 'get' are released and that's what we're about, it's expressing yourself on a blank canvas.
There's some very popular designs such as the Northern Music and Tinted Lens, and then there's one's the total opposite which appeal to a totally different crowd. Sometimes a real complex design will go over everyone's head but for a few hardy souls, yet sometimes the more generic/obvious designs will simply fly out.

5. I have noticed that you are planning on designing polo shirts, What factors have gone into this and what quality have you been looking for?

Yeah, we've been planning them for over two years, well we designed what we were after then and it's taken as long to find someone we're overly happy with or will do less than say 300 a colour and all that. We wanted something designed to our own specifications down to each detail as opposed to just picking something off the peg and customising it, anyone can do that so we didn't want to. We're wanting a good fit, good weight and quality akin to the big boys and the best polos out there.
There's no shame in admitting we are pretty much intending to base this on the classics such as Lacoste and Ralph, a simple two button placket polo with our own branding and quirk. We've been wearing stuff like I mentioned for years, they've never changed, simple and timeless style, it's a no brainer to take it from them.
We've tried several different people before we were happy with one, they're now into production, we've got to see more sampling with every detail and change taken into account then they'll be approved for full runs, intended to be out in time for summer if all goes well. We've learned unless you have a book of contacts you've got to search and search until you find the right people to work with and that is often the hardest part.